EU appoints Luigi Di Maio as first Gulf envoy

Former Italian foreign minister takes on role of co-ordinating regional policy

Luigi Di Maio celebrates US Independence Day last year at the American ambassador's residence in Italy. EPA

The EU on Monday appointed former Italian foreign minister Luigi Di Maio as its first special representative for the Gulf.

The European Council said Mr Di Maio, 37, will take up his duties on June 1 with an initial mandate of 21 months.

EU special representatives are proposed by High Representative Josep Borrell “to promote the EU's policies and interests in specific regions and countries, and provide the EU with an active political presence in those areas,” it said in a statement.

The choice had been widely decried by regional experts when his name was leaked by the media in November.

French daily Le Monde, which broke the news of Mr Di Maio's possible appointment last year, quoted diplomats who described him as ill-equipped for international diplomacy, with only a basic command of English.

Mr Di Maio's CV circulated by the council does not mention what languages he speaks.

It says that he was the chairman of three MED Dialogues in 2019, 2020, and 2021, with the aim of developing a “positive agenda for the wider Mediterranean region”.

Mr Di Maio has few known ties to the Arab region and was in hot water with France, where he supported anti-government protests in 2019, when he was Italy's foreign affairs minister.

The other candidates for the job were former foreign minister of Cyprus Markos Kyprianou, Slovak diplomat Jan Kubis and former Greek foreign minister Dimitris Avramopoulos, according to Le Monde.

Mohammed Baharoon, the head of Dubai’s public policy research centre, said he hoped Mr Di Maio would not bring old positions into the job. “He could be a changed person,” he said. “I hope the views about him are also changed.”

The European Commission began a strategic partnership with the Gulf in May 2022 to revitalise co-operation between the two regions.

It says that together, the EU and the GCC represent 20 per cent of the global economy.

The EU has nine other special representatives who are based in Brussels but travel around the continent to co-ordinate with member states.